TALLAHASSEE -- A bill to require most pet owners in Florida to spay or neuter their cats and dogs or face a fine is expected to pass out of its first House committee Tuesday. But not until it's fixed.

Originally written to require mandatory sterilization of most cats and dogs, a proposal by Rep. Scott Randolph scheduled for a vote by the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday will be amended to strike the mandatory provision that has left pet owners and some veterinarians upset.

Panelists are expected instead to vote on an amended version of the bill that merely gives local officials the option of diverting a $5 surcharge already being tacked on to animal-control citations to help local governments pay to spay or neuter household pets.

''Local governments spend between $50 million and $100 million a year euthanizing and housing dogs and cats,'' said Randolph, D-Orlando. ``Most of the time, those funds come from public safety budgets. This is a financial bill.''

Local animal control agencies are allowed to add a $5 surcharge to animal violations. Currently, they must use the funds to pay for employee education programs. The amendment to be offered Tuesday would allow those funds to be used for sterilization services.

Animal enforcement officials say spending money to sterilize more of the 10 million dogs and cats in Florida is cheaper and easier than punishing owners who don't neuter their pets.

''Enforcement is extremely expensive,'' said Dr. Sara Pizano, director of Miami-Dade Animal Services. ``You would have to spend a whole lot of money. You have to ask yourself what your goal is. Your goal should be to neuter animals, not punish people.''

Currently, Miami-Dade generates about $100,000 from the surcharges. Pizano said her department could perform thousands of procedures with that kind of money.

Randolph's original bill is modeled after a measure approved last year in Los Angeles, which enacted a proposal that fines pet owners $500 for not neutering their pets. Breeders or recalcitrant owners can purchase permits to forgo the procedures.

But there have been complaints about the L.A. law -- and it has been hard to enforce. A couple of Florida communities also have measures already on the books. Palm Beach County charges pet owners a fee if they don't spay or neuter their pets. Volusia County also requires spaying or neutering, but has exemptions for breeders and some other pet owners.

House Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Rep. Trudi Williams, R-Fort Myers, said she's allowing the bill to be heard as a favor to Randolph, who has taken considerable heat for the measure.

With such a tight budget, Williams said she has told members that noncritical measures will not be considered this term, including a plethora of ''pet bills'' deemed nonessential to the state.

''I've told members that we're going to be focused on budget-related issues and that's it,'' Williams said. ``I agreed to allow [Randolph's] measure so he can clear his name from a really bad bill. We'd like a clean slate.''

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